Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies (post-1979)
Logo descriptions by Matt Williams, Benjamin Edge, Yeow95, BluTheParrot, and Gilblitz112 Logo captures by Eric S., Logoboy95 and WileE2005 Editions by Eric S., WileE2005, V of Doom, Bob Fish, Emiozuna, and Gilblitz112 Background In 1980, after a brief reopening from 1967-1969, Warner Bros. Animation finally re-opened its doors, originally geared to make TV specials starring the Looney Tunes gang. A few newer theatrical shorts were also made to be released with re-issues of a few classic WB movies. In 1986, Freleng had departed, with Steven S. Greene and Kathleen Helppie-Shipley taking his place. The studio continued making TV specials starring the Looney Tunes gang, sporadically producing new Looney Tunes shorts for theaters such as The Duxorcist (1987), Night of the Living Duck (1988), Box Office Bunny (1990), and Carrotblanca (1995). Many of these shorts, as well as the new footage in the compilation film Daffy Duck's Quackbusters (which includes The Duxorcist) was directed by Greg Ford and Terry Lennon. In the early 2000s, the company began to focus less on Looney Tunes and more on action-adventure cartoons, usually starring the Justice League characters, as well as remakes of the Scooby-Doo and Tom and Jerry franchises. In 2003, as a cross-promotion with the upcoming big-budget feature film Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Warner Bros. commissioned their animation studio to make nearly thirty all-new Looney Tunes cartoon shorts for theatrical release with their newer movies. People who worked for various popular animated TV programs worked on the shorts, with contributions from the current WB Animation staff. When Looney Tunes: Back in Action failed in its theatrical release, Warner Bros. decided to not release the six cartoons they had completed, and canceled production on the rest of the shorts. 1st Logo (1979-1980) Nickname: "Zooming WB Shield" Studio Logo: We see the concentric circles with red rings and a blue center "WARNER BROS. INC." is on the top. Then the WB shield zooms in. Series Tiltle: On the same background as the Studio Logo, we see "MERRIE MELODIES" in the classic font, with "A WARNER BROS. CARTOON" on the bottom. Closing Logo: On the concentric circles "That's all Folks!" writes itself on the screen, this is the same as the 1959-1960 Merrie Melodies closing. SFX/FX: TBA Music/Sounds: The 1945-1955 version of "Merrily We Roll Along". Availability: Seen on "The Fright Before Christmas","Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol", and "Freeze Frame". Also seen on The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie. Scare Factor: None. This is a favorite of many. 2nd Logo (November 20, 1987-September 23, 1988) Nicknames: "Looney Tunes Shield," "1980s Looney Tunes" Studio Logo: On the concentric circles, the text "WARNER BROS. CARTOONS INC." and "Present", in classic fonts, are there. Then, the WB Shield zooms in. A few seconds later, it fades to Daffy Duck's head. Series Title: On the concentric circles we see the text "LOONEY TUNES". Below it are the words "A WARNER BROS. CARTOON MADE IN BURBANK-USA". Closing Logo: On the concentric circles "That's all Folks!" writes itself on the screen. FX/SFX: All the animation in this logo. Music/Sounds: The 1946-1955 version of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" was used in The Duxorcist. The Merrie Melodies version is used in Night of the Living Duck. Availability: Uncommon. Seen on 2 cartoons: The Duxorcist and Night of the Living Duck. Scare Factor: Same as before. 3rd Logo (1994-1997) Nickname: "Bugs Bunny's Head" Studio Logo: On the red concentric circles, with "WARNER BROS. CLASSIC ANIMATION" on the top and "Presents" on the bottom, a blue and yellow WB shield zooms in. Series Logo: On the same background as the studio logo the text "LOONEY TUNES" is on the top and the text "A WARNER BROS. CARTOON" is on the bottom. Closing Logo: On the red concentric circles "That's all Folks!" writes itself on. "A WARNER BROS. CARTOON" appears below. SFX/FX: TBA Music/Sounds: "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" was used until 1993. Starting in 1994 with Chariots of Fur, the theme "Merrily We Roll Along", arranged by Richard Stone, is used. Availability: Seen on Looney Tunes from the era. Carrotblanca is an example of these. Scare Factor: None. 4th Logo (2000) Nicknames: "The Road Runner's Head", "Wile E. Coyote's Head" Studio Logo: On the red concentric circles with "WARNER BROS. CLASSIC ANIMATION" on the top and "Presents" on the bottom, A red and white WB shield zooms in, then it fades to the Road Runner's and Wile E. Coyote's heads. Series Logo: On the same concentric circles With the two characters still there "LOONEY TUNES" is on the top and "A WARNER BROS. CARTOON" is on the bottom. Closing Logo: On the concentric circles with Wile E, Coyote and Road Runner's heads (in their Baby Looney Tunes versions) "That's all Folks!" in a childish font writes itself in on the top. The Baby Looney Tunes logo and "A WARNER BROS. CARTOON" are on the bottom. SFX/FX: TBA Music/Sounds: A different "Merrily We Roll Along", arrangement by Richard Stone. Availability: The only cartoon to use this was Little Go Beep. Scare Factor: None. 5th Logo (2003-2004) Nicknames: "The Ugly Shield", "The Zooming Bullseye" Studio Logo: On a black background, a green center zooms up as some red rings zoom out one-by-one and arrange themselves into the famous "bullseye" backdrop. Then a large, metallic, ugly-looking red-and-gold WB shield comes from the center of the screen, zooms up to a huge size, overshooting its mark and then backs up to its usual spot on the bullseye. (This was borrowed from the 1953 3D LT short Lumberjack Rabbit.) Then over it, "WARNER BROS. PICTURES" "wipes" onscreen over the shield in an ugly font, and underneath is "PRESENTS" in the same font. Series Title: Above the "bullseye" and on the same background is "LOONEY TUNES" in its trademark font, and underneath the center is "PRODUCED BY LARRY DOYLE." In the center, we see classic clips featuring the character in the cartoon that is about to begin, such as Foghorn Leghorn, Wile E. Coyote, Porky Pig, etc. It then fades to a third card featuring a background with outlines of Daffy, Bugs, Sylvester and Tweety, and the other main cartoon staff appears in front of the background. Closing Logo: The same concentric circles background as before, but with "LOONEY TUNES" above the center of the rings and "That's all Folks!" tracing itself on the bottom of the bullseye. Porky Pig appears in the center and stutters, "Bee-ba-da-ba-bee-da, That's all, folks!". FX/SFX: All the animation in these logos. Cheesy Factor: Really choppy animation on the zooming shield and bullseye, an extremely ugly font for the text, and rather poor-quality design on Porky from the Sander Schwartz-led Warner Bros. Animation unit. Porky's voice is also rather bland (being performed by Billy West). Music/Sounds: A remixed version of "Merrily We Roll Along", arranged by Walter Murphy. Sometimes the sound effects corresponding with the classic clips shown can be heard. Availability: Only three cartoons featuring this logo were released on DVD in America: The Whizzard of Ow on the Looney Tunes: Back in Action DVD release, Hare and Loathing in Las Vegas on The Essential Bugs Bunny DVD (released in 2010) and Attack of the Drones on The Essential Daffy Duck DVD (also released in 2010). The logo is also seen on Museum Scream, C.o.c.k-a-Doodle Duel, and My Generation G-G-Gap. However, these cartoons were never released theatrically, shown on TV or released on video in the USA, and the only known release of those cartoons are on the Australian DVD release of Looney Tunes: Back in Action (Hare and Loathing in Las Vegas and Attack of the Drones were also on this DVD as well, so up until The Essential Bugs Bunny and The Essential Daffy Duck DVD releases, both were only on that release). These cartoons were also seen at one point on TV in Canada. A possible reason why these Looney Tunes shorts have to this day never seen a release in the USA (or took years to finally receive a USA release, in the case of Hare and Loathing in Las Vegas and Attack of the Drones), is that these cartoons were five of over 30 shorts Warner Bros. had in production for theatrical release (some of them Looney Tunes, others Tom and Jerry). However, Looney Tunes: Back in Action's failure at the box office forced Warner Bros. to reorganize their entire animation unit (while these shorts were produced by the television/direct-to-video animation unit, the feature animation division was shut down after failure). This ended up shutting down production on these shorts in 2004, with only 11 of these shorts (five of them the aforementioned Looney Tunes shorts) completed (however, the cancelled Tom and Jerry shorts were completed in 2006 as Tom and Jerry Tales shorts). However, with the Looney Tunes returning to home video with the Looney Tunes Super Stars DVDs, and recently the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Blu-rays, a future USA release on home video is possible. Scare Factor: Medium, mainly due to the awkward animation and design on the WB shield and studio logo. 6th Logo (July 30, 2010- ) Nickname: "The Shining Shield" Studio Logo: On a black background, a series of 3D orange circles come flying into the screen, arranging itself into the famous "bullseye" backdrop. Then a large, metallic WB shield zooms in noticeably faster than normal Looney Tunes cartoons, overshooting its mark and nearly colliding with the screen (again, ala Lumberjack Rabbit), and then bounces back to its normal position, as "WARNER BROS. ANIMATION" appears above it, and "Presents" below it, in the classic fonts. The logo then comes apart and zooms away. No series logo or closing titles appear. Variants: *On I Tawt I Taw a Putty Tat, the circles are green, they don't fly, and the background is red. Also, the shield zooms in and stops as normal (ala the 1930s-1960s Warner Bros. cartoons). The text fades in one-by-one and instead of coming apart and zooming away, the logo just fades to a black screen. *On Daffy's Rhapsody, it is the same as the I Tawt I Taw a Putty Tat variant, but the circles are red and the background is blue. FX/SFX: All the animation in this logo. Cheesy Factor: The shining is a little off-putting, but unlike the last logo, the "3D zooming shield" effect is MUCH more convincing. The upside-down "B" looks a little strange. Music/Sounds: A remixed, short version of "Merrily We Roll Along." When the shield zooms in, we hear the "twanging" sound from the 1945-1955 Merrie Melodies theme. Availability: Uncommon, the first cartoon featuring this logo was Coyote Falls, seen in front of Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, and was also shown on Fur of Flying, seen in front of Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, Rabid Rider, seen in front of Yogi Bear, I Tawt I Taw a Putty Tat, seen in front of Happy Feet Two, and Daffy's Rhapsody, seen in front of Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. Scare Factor: * High. The shield zooming in at a faster pace with it's 3D effect can spook many, especially those in theatres. * Low for the I Tawt I Taw a Putty Tat and Daffy's Rhapsody variants, as the shield's zooming still looks unnerving. 7th Logo (May 3, 2011-August 31, 2014) Nickname: "The Shining Shield II," "The Colorful Shield," "The Painted Shield" Studio Logo: At the start of the show, we start on a black background with a dark blue light. Then, a large WB shield in the design of the last logo, accompanied with the words "WARNER BROS. ANIMATION" and "Presents", in the same fonts as the 6th logo, zoom in (with the shield zooming in closer than the letters and overshooting its mark, crashing into the screen, then quickly pulling back-again, a la Lumberjack Rabbit). Around the same time the shield appears, a colorful, painted orange/yellow bullseye "zooms" behind it. Then a quick second later, the shield zooms out, and the camera follows the shield, seguing into the opening intro of the show. Series Logo: Before the Wile E. Coyote & Road Runner and Merrie Melodies segments that appear in the middle of the show, the bullseye appears, looking like the bullseye from the previous logo, with swirling colors (like the painted bullseye in the opening intro, but with only a few rings). The color of the bullseye is green for the Merrie Melodies version, and orange/yellow for the Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote version. Closing Logo: At the end of the show, we see the 2008 Warner Bros. Animation logo with the TimeWarner byline, but the shield and the banner are in 3D. Then, Porky Pig, on a green background (drawn in the style of the show) opens the 3D shield (like a door), then says "Bee-ba-da-ba-bee-da (stuttering), that's all, folks!". The shield and the banner were made with Autodesk 3D Studios Max 9. Closing Logo Variants: *On "Monster Talent", the WB shield opens to show Daffy Duck in the shield on a blue gradient background. He says "You're welcome." *On "Devil Dog" and "Ridiculous Journey", the WB shield opens to show Taz the Tasmanian Devil in the shield on the same background used on "Monster Talent". At first surprised, he then (in the same manner as Porky Pig) says "Th-th-th-th-th-that's all, folks!". *On "The Foghorn Leghorn Story", Foghorn Leghorn opens the shield and says "That's, I say, that's, I say..." but forgets what to say afterwards and soon turns his back to the audience, asking "Uh... what do I say, Carol?" (Carol is his assistant introduced in that episode). *On "Peel of Fortune", the WB shield opens up to show Bugs Bunny with a blue center, saying "And dat's de end". *On "Double Date", the shield opens to reveal Lola Bunny, who starts to greet the audience, but then stops, confused, asking "That's all WHAT? What are folks?" then commenting "He's crazy." *On "To Bowl or Not to Bowl", the Goofy Gophers open the shield, saying "That's all, folks" at the same time. They then spend the rest of the time until the fade out telling each other "After you", deciding who should say the catchphrase first. *On "Newspaper Thief", a confused Granny on an aqua gradient background opens the shield and asks "Is this the bathroom?" Daffy Duck (offscreen) yells at her "NO! Now go home!", which surprises Granny and prompts her to look behind her (presumably to search the bathroom some more or where the voice came from). *On "Bugs and Daffy Get a Job", the shield opens to reveal Dr. Weisberg, who says "On a final note, kids, don't forget to eat your broccoli. It's good for you." *On "That's My Baby", Porky appears in the shield, beginning his usual line "Th-th-th-th-that's all fo..." then suddenly stops as his stomach rumbles, commenting "Oh, I shouldn't have had those artichoke p-p-p-p-poppers", a reference to an event from earlier in the episode. *On "Sunday Night Slice", the shield opens to reveal Speedy Gonzales on a blue background, who says "Hasta luego, amigos" (Spanish for "see you later, friends") while waving his hat. *On "The DMV", Lola appears in the shield again, this time waving at the audience, and saying "That's all, folks" in a slick tone. *On "Off Duty Cop", the shield opens to reveal Leslie Hunt, in his role as Steve St. James, Off Duty Cop. He turns his dark glasses up from his eyes and says "That's all, folks!" His glasses then drop back down. *On "French Fries", Yosemite Sam opens up the shield. He yells "That's all, folks!" and then kicks a football. The sound of a window shattering is heard offscreen and Sam makes a run for it. *On "Beauty School", Lola opens up the shield and tries to say "That's the end of the show!", but she falls down to the bottom of the logo. *On "The Float", the shield opens to reveal Daffy Duck, who is looking away. Then, he turns around, says to the viewer "Psst, hey," and looks side-to-side, checking if no one else is watching him. He asks, "You wanna buy a watch?" and brings out an antique pocket watch. *On "The Shelf", the shield opens to reveal Bugs Bunny, who says "I'll just wear it" (referring to the Nobel Prize he received and tried to display on the shelf in the episode). After he puts it on, the strap rips and the Nobel Prize falls down to the bottom of the logo, leaving Bugs surprised. *On "You've Got Hate Mail", the shield opens, but no one appears to be in the shield. Then Lola walks up to the shield and says "Piper, there you are! I've been looking all over for you! You're crazy." (Piper is Lola's imaginary friend in that episode.) *On "Gribbler's Quest", the shield opens to reveal Daffy Duck with his arms outstretched (as if trying to hug someone), who says "Who wants a hug now? Come on! You know you need one." *On "Year of the Duck", the shield opens to reveal a Great White shark that is wearing glasses, and reading a piece of paper (which, presumably, contains a list). He says to his offscreen friends (in an Australian accent) "Ey, fellas! Get a load of this! We cracked the top ten!" FX/SFX: The shield opening, and the character's actions. Cheesy Factor: The bullseye painting behind the shield can be considered tacky by some, and the shield effect looks a little cheaper compared to the previous logo (and it doesn't have a "TWANG!" sound to accompany it like the previous logos did). Like the previous logo, the upside-down "B" on the Studio Logo looks strange. The "Merrie Melodies" theme sounds strange and dissonant. Music/Sounds: A fast-paced jazzy remix of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down." For the Series Logos, both the Merrie Melodies and Wile E. Coyote & Road Runner segments have short, jazzy themes, with the Merrie Melodies theme being a fast-paced dissonant remix of the "Merrily We Roll Along," and the Road Runner segments having a jazzy remix of the classic theme music to The Road Runner Show. Availability: All three logos can be seen on The Looney Tunes Show. The Studio Logo is seen at the beginning of any given episode, the Series Logo(s) can be seen on Merrie Melodies and Road Runner & Wile. E. Coyote segments that air within the episode, and the Closing Logo can be seen during the end credits of the episode (which is usually crunched during Cartoon Network airings of the show). Scare Factor: Low, bordering on medium; the WB shield effect and dissonant music remixes can get to some, but the painting effects are cool. Category:Time Warner Category:Animation studio Category:Family and Animation Category:Warner Bros. Category:Warner Bros. Entertainment